Can new blood at the top improve vital signs of NHS?

After blistering criticism from MPs, Amanda Pritchard has quit as chief executive of the NHS in England.

- SEAN O'GRADY

She had been in the post since August 2021. James Mackey, the national director of elective recovery, will serve as interim chief executive.

Wes Streeting, who as health secretary is the political chief of the NHS, is planning what he says will be an essential period of major reform; he said there must now be a “new relationship between the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England”.

Given the NHS is one of the most pressing voter concerns, the health of our health service is as crucial for the government as it is for the nation’s quality of life... and therefore is an obvious priority for the Starmer administration and the ambitious Streeting.

Why did she go?

Relations between Streeting and Pritchard were reportedly cordial and correct but, perhaps inevitably, there were tensions about NHS funding. A more fundamental problem was attacks by two parliamentary committees on her performance, rendering her position quite untenable. The public accounts committee and the health and social care committee pointed to complacency and a lack of dynamism within NHS leadership.

Does the job matter?